Pic of the Week #84

The life of a male leopard in a place I call home

At almost 4 years of age, the White Dam male leopard is a leopard with true character! When I first started at Sabi Sabi Private Game Reserve I witnessed this young cub still very dependent (one and half years old) on his mother which is now the late White Dam female. Unable to hunt for himself, responding to the calls of his mother when looking for him, fighting for a spot alongside her when on a kill and perched high up in Marula trees while watching Spotted Hyena waiting for scraps below.

Roughly two and half to three years later and oh, how things have changed. The amount this leopard has learnt from attempting to hunt Cape Buffalo to competing with Spotted Hyenas; fighting with his father, the Maxabeni male, at carcasses; chasing off mature elderly male leopards intruding; and even mating with several females and fathering offspring. All of this combined, is why I firmly believe this will be the next dominant male of the area around the Northern property of Sabi Sabi Private Game Reserve.

Equipment Used

Camera – Canon 7D mk ii

Lens and Focal length – Canon-EF100-400mm f-4.5-5.6 L IS USM at 400mm

Settings used to capture this image

ISO – 500

Aperture – 5,6

Shutter – 1/1000

Editing used on this image

With such beautiful morning light, not much editing was done. A low ISO allowed for me to utilise the golden glow of the newly risen sun on an Autumn/Winter morning that highlighted my subject perfectly.